The San Diego Padres may not have Juan Soto anymore, but they are about to sign one of MLB’s finest hitters, Luis Arraez.
According to Jeff Passan, the Miami Marlins will trade the 2023 MLB batting champion to the San Diego Padres in exchange for three prospects and a relief pitcher.
While the move is surprising, it is not completely unexpected, despite the fact that the Marlins only recently acquired the outstanding on-base machine. In January 2023, the Marlins traded Pablo Lopez, Jose Salas, and Byron Chourio to the Minnesota Twins in exchange for Arraez.
While Arraez has done his job, the rest of Miami’s offense hasn’t kept their half of the deal, so the Marlins should trade him now to get a better return before losing their two-time All-Star to free agency in 2026.
The Miami Marlins’ Luis Arraez deal prospect package
The Padres kept on to top prospect Ethan Salas, who is ranked seventh in MLB.com’s top-100. They also kept 11th-ranked prospect Jackson Merrill, Robby Snelling (33rd) and Dylan Lesko (50th).
The Marlins may not have received any top-100 prospects in exchange, but they did receive the Padres’ sixth-ranked prospect, outfielder Dillon Head, San Diego’s first-round choice in 2023. However, Head is only 19 years old and is currently in Single-A, so it will be several years before he makes his Miami debut.
In addition to Head, the Padres acquire the ninth and thirteenth-ranked Padres prospects, outfielder Jakob Marsee and first-baseman/outfielder Nathan Martorella, both of whom are expected to make their Marlins debuts this season.
Reliever Woo-suk Go, 25, inked a two-year, $4.5 million contract with San Diego in January, but he was unable to make the big league roster and began the season pitching in Double-A. Suk-Go has had ten minor league appearances and has an ERA of 4.38.
While we’ll have to wait to see who came out ahead in this trade, given that the Padres are getting an elite hitter who is cost-controlled for two more seasons and the Marlins are getting several intriguing prospects, both sides appear to have gotten a fair deal today. We’ll see if that holds true when we look back on the second Arraez trade several years from now.
